Dive Brief:

• At least one homeless man and dozens of low-income or down-on-their-luck Californians have joined the construction crew that is building a $477 million arena for the Sacramento Kings basketball team.

• The team recruited locals with at least two of these qualifications: low-income, on food stamps or public assistance, homeless, veteran, ex-offender or former foster child. The selected candidates became part of the Kings’ Community Workforce Pipeline, whose aim is to enroll at least 70 workers in a union apprenticeship or job training program, and to eventually put them to work building the 17,500-seat arena at Sacramento’s Downtown Plaza.

• The Kings and the arena’s builder, Turner Construction, worked with construction unions and the city government on the program. The arena's construction will involve an estimated 1,355 construction workers—about 600 at a time—over two years, according to a joint report by the Kings and the city. Construction in nearby areas, spurred by the new arena, is expected to provide jobs for another 1,781 construction workers.

Dive Insight:

Kings President Chris Granger called the effort “a great example of why this project is bigger than basketball,” and said the jobs “could become a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for deserving individuals to launch a new career and pathway to the middle class.”

The homeless employee, Eric Martinez, told the local Fox news station that his job helped him get a home and a car, and he recently got married.